“They Call Us Thieves and Steal Our Wage”: Toward a Reinterpretation of the Salvadoran Rural Mobilization, 1929–1931

Abstract

The basic facts of the January 1932 uprising in El Salvador are well known and largely undisputed. Thousands of workers and peasants in central and western El Salvador rose up on the night of January 22 and occupied various towns in the departments of Sonsonate and Ahuachapán.1 The Salvadoran Communist Party (PCS) had planned the insurrection two weeks earlier, but its key supporters in the army and many of its leaders were already either dead or in jail when the revolt began. The response of regional elites and the central government was swift and brutal. The army reoccupied all of the towns within a few days, and throughout the next month government forces and civilian militias killed thousands of peasants and workers, especially in the heavily indigenous areas of the west.2During the past 70 years, four themes have dominated interpretations of the movement and the massacre. The first focuses on the structural causes of the revolt. In 1927, following six years of dramatic expansion, coffee prices and export volumes began to decline. This slump accelerated over the next few years, a devastating blow to an economy dependent on coffee exports. The western part of the country, which was hardest hit, became the principal site of the rebellion.3 The second focuses on the major political crisis that began when President Romero Bosque (1927–31) broke with official continuismo and permitted relatively free and democratic local and presidential elections. As a result of this political opening, reformist candidate Arturo Araujo was elected and held office from March until December 1931, presiding over the deepening economic crisis and increasing social and political unrest in the countryside. Elites and their military allies moved to depose him, principally due to his inability to stem the growing leftist-dominated movement in the countryside but also because of the administrative chaos that plagued his government.4 The third line of analysis focuses on the role of the PCS.5 Within the Left, many have questioned the PCS’s political line, and more recently, scholars have questioned the degree of PCS influence over the movement.6 The fourth theme, concerning the ethnic content of the revolt, relates to the third in that some scholars stress the remoteness of the PCS from the concerns and culture of the indigenous supporters who participated in the movement.7 The western region boasted the greatest concentration of indigenous population and communities, and long-standing conflicts over land and local political control contributed to their mobilization.8 This history of ethnic tension also shaped the undeniably racist dimension of the repression.9 Scholars have argued that the indigenous leadership of cofradías played a critical role, but did so with all the tensions, ambiguity, and social distance implied by such an alliance with the movement’s urban, ladino leadership.The exploration of these themes has helped to elucidate the causes of the insurrection and its repression. Notwithstanding the great value of the existing literature, however, we feel it has privileged certain lines of inquiry and, with notable exceptions, failed to exhaust research possibilities. In particular, the literature has failed to offer adequate insight into the experiences, motivations, and origins of campesinos’ resistance and mobilization.William Roseberry’s understanding of hegemony is useful in trying to grasp the ideological and cultural relations between elite and subaltern groups. He argues, “What hegemony constructs then, is not a shared ideology but a common material and meaningful framework for living through, talking about, and acting upon social orders characterized by domination.”10 This article will attempt to explain why the Salvadoran elite, and its religious and political allies, had such an extraordinarily difficult time establishing such a discursive frame-work. We probe, in the words of Sidney Mintz, the moment when “populations come to the recognition that their felt oppression is not merely a matter of poor times, but of evil times—when, in short, they question the legitimacy of an existing allocation of power, rather than the terms of that allocation.”11Combining and research to the areas of and ethnic relations the of themes that have from a We elite a framework of meaningful with subaltern four that contributed to the of we that the structural of the two relatively social and of which played key in the of had in the but the of did not the of between and that in political and social the and that characterized the The elite, and the of and that was on the throughout the part of the This was in to the of a of was with a of a ideology of to cultural of the of a of in and in El Salvador the and had in the of indigenous ethnic relations did an role in the they did so in and attempt to the and revolt ethnic more than it an is to understanding the ethnic were not the or of we that of and also contributed to the In and has a of elite or In western El however, we that indigenous the of growing ladino and indigenous was a of that to or we not the distance between the of the Communist and indigenous and ladino poor the and of the movement that the of Salvadoran in a of of El countryside the of peasants with that El Salvador was not a land of the between and who were by the and that are of the is by its in their time and more of in few their the of El and their of the of the and they their and with their and to on of the they the who have come from the and who than the of coffee and by some and argued that the peasants and workers from the of this is with all its and land a of or has a upon of the many the have to in of a and all are also a of reformist of Sonsonate economy of the a for who into its a the is this which is characterized by of and in Sonsonate in is a and an and not have for the however, they by the of the for failed to however, the that were already in the in the the dramatic of the coffee between and the also failed to the of the of the that had up the up some these and and with and and which had its origins in the of of and in the the second the third peasants and who from or the these so the western countryside that was the that western El Salvador the and a of between the and coffee between and and export The long-standing and in the of its of a that into coffee in the its coffee were not in of the coffee the between and and for of The greatest in from with of who of the and in an concentration of land also contributed to land concentration and the and the population the of or a growing of peasants the of the of dependent on and many into the of and by of the population of western El Salvador did not land and had to or increasing land by coffee prices and this of land The that land from in to in were for to with some up to for the land land and the of an many and to into or their of the leaders the 1932 revolt, a with a that this was the to his land and on it a the that it was not in his to when his became the had to his to the few was to the and the was who had free and who so until a few was to the of or his or his because the coffee up to the of his was throughout the the of coffee the of a social for some between 1932 and of the population of western El Salvador on coffee either workers or of living on with the a few the of peasants into a or in for to land in El Salvador the the of a in in the it to or free rather than or In a coffee prices in to on on of the by but of the in terms of also to the crisis by increasing by many the were their workers and for to a from the local has in of these great will have the their for a of land that they to they have to or or two of which the poor to for the for six or weeks a or that or a The for the are for the in part or in his and and the of relations the that the of land was or in that on the This was more on that had from The of land first by supporters of Arturo Araujo his presidential to their in the Araujo government failed to meaningful land in the movement and were its in the of the of were in the to that we were all to land and they up indigenous dependent on to their the key social that in western El Salvador the of who workers on the coffee by to the years of the the of and in for the in the for and became on In 1931, the the of this in is to have from the of or a a to is that the of the especially in the has The of the workers is of these in such and on the of and in the of on indigenous the and on the in for two weeks and were occupied with local and ideological and cultural of the elite the of and and in western El Salvador had a of power, and but they from their The the of the few and that the poor to the The of with of thousands of workers to coffee and did not to between and the in the and on their the to this distance between and to which its is to to that of are to the of a of hegemony was to the elite well the of the of of El known and coffee who on the growing The on and of these the for the We the We the We the the coffee We that because they the or that the are in and will of these and that their did not to to the of the were not they have to the coffee were a the to a and and for and and prices in their This dramatic in broke the already of that had to their to land by the also the of a The military come to we land to these we will have to coffee for The for is to they As a matter of we years they their living two a than they are not and they not why of to elite and on and land their to of of in western Salvador who were to the elite and their In particular, in towns and in which were in the and ladino and workers were to in some some into the in part due to their to more research has also to a the in of land and and their and an of the the movement an of the economic of the and of land the and the of land for their the poor and contributed to their of with a regional of in of a ideological of and El workers and peasants were in the region and were not to it in in of but their and their to the and political helped to a more democratic political which the to local political of official and 1927, to local and a of social control had to the political of this the elite on the and its to control in a from to President Romero Bosque his of in and reformist and the to to and the that a of El political and economic from the growing political and ideological with growing and the elites on the The reformist of and were and in and workers a part of the population of El Salvador and the had played a critical role in local and for social and political workers and also played an role in and to over and and economic in the region contributed to the of these reformist forces in El Salvador had for in the The resistance in El and for and some his forces the in his all of it have difficult to a who did not Thousands of from The between and the were in an in contributed to the of a Salvadoran of the a that of political the and of the of elite and the the for in of workers, and indigenous the Sonsonate also the economic for the a that and the of the of on the is due to the of the and the which have to two and with or they the coffee also the concentration of land in the of and in of the of coffee of with on the of and to the basic of for the and also part of the reformist a between and and land also the and the of their the to and of this reformist the which became a key part of this The economic crisis in the into the of a upon which to the of In the in with from the with The ideological between in and with its and of the and of the and of the by the economic into for the presidential of reformist Arturo The of thousands of peasants who for Araujo in the PCS to the of a relatively movement and the of the of was the of peasants who into the of Sonsonate part of the presidential of who was the of the a from and a with his in his and the that had on the and on four with their and their this of and an of on up of a reformist movement between and 1931, with to and with the for the of workers and the 1932 many with and the the local alliance a to the by local on the it to a political movement in Salvadoran He also from the reformist that and military The alliance between and workers had in the political culture of by the Party and the ideological of of land the poor and of political and economic workers and its to that Araujo of which many and to that the was Araujo was was that the coffee and its of unrest of the few to the that the has his on the of 1931, four years of economic was for in alliance with the a dramatic on power, in have for to to and As a many of his supporters to the In 1931, the of Sonsonate had to to Araujo that they with their local leaders in to that they in part in these of a In Araujo a in of his The government in some to workers by they to the to a second that for the of all his due to their of on land the Araujo to in the the had relations with the growing the it had in in to the of the a of The of in his on December 1931, contributed to the of indigenous and ladino and its we not the ideological and political of the the elite had to with ideological and was largely from In particular, Salvadoran on social than in the of was to the ideology of of the to an role in by and for a of subaltern in a of of its and Salvadoran of an and of the indigenous to the history and his understanding of the of Salvadoran in the following of the is of that in a and has the of the it is that we are the we of within the is the of the and the a to this was was the and part of their in of for the of which in a indigenous has has the of its they to a their with and that is in the is his it is not to the the the the the The is than a and than the or the in to elite racist that who on and into the of by the indigenous to and by for helped to the discursive and political for the movement that between and of and workers and peasants their ethnic to the ideology by and by to who on a to who with indigenous political and and to who did not of that response to the movement social and political to the and of a of and a cultural of and an of ethnic the of ladino elites to over land and political from indigenous The of cultural that to indigenous in that helped land and political from the indigenous in El indigenous they were their As have all and and In and elites the of to indigenous This was in some in El but with certain that a key to understanding the and repression. part of the in and the and response of El indigenous indigenous were because of the economic and of indigenous groups. in El in and some to the ideology and of with a of ethnic and we of the of the of ethnic in the words of an a by an the the The we the We are for We are the of the the the coffee the that of this of indigenous is and and we that it was the lines between and were in the and it is to in the from a to ethnic by the and in the in the participated in the in the The economic in a ladino and a of ethnic In and in the of however, an role for in the the of his and all indigenous of the of had to an in to indigenous political and was of the few in He a on a on land that had to the the in the became the was for than did not their in their of and their and which for their and cultural In we that the of the was a of the of a of on land and on religious and cultural to ladino and to or the of on the and the of cofradías on the is to the the of in the government a of in the of for in had a on and have from of the indigenous that the is to the of cultural the in and in The Sonsonate the following in in also have their of the that four to for the they have to the and the from the and the was by the and the four is in with the of the of The of also the attempt to the Communist of the The alliance between four and the in to the was with conflicts in the of The of the however, was a of between religious and political of into a did have political in As have were an site of ethnic the and In particular, political over into the The indigenous political elite, up of and had for with local and of a but also some the on some indigenous for their political and economic for a over the of some land the indigenous political elite between who with and who began to for of the indigenous political a the of his political allies to the in from his a had the and ethnic and the of the with and in 1932 they for their in the indigenous cofradías played a role in the and control over the cofradías was a for cultural local and the for control over the government became Notwithstanding its ethnic ladino and workers in also participated in the In the critical January 1932 candidate a ladino the of the broke the were the indigenous we have on the response to the and cultural on the indigenous in the towns of and the lines between and were the of western ethnic relations were more of the subaltern response to the of cultural and ethnic In the of for many from of the of who were with indigenous of and who were in their indigenous but into ladino when they the Notwithstanding to have an accelerated of cultural in the more than in the indigenous of were between indigenous in the and poor who had to the the We not this with and occupied the of and in their shared however, relations between and were In the words of an indigenous of an to with the in these were the in and In the words of a ladino from the of was the of the of the of who were the insurrection is also by the Communist was to the coffee of an indigenous and of the was to a argued with that and his ladino had to the to We are but are This the of and in ethnic it was a long-standing that did not the moment of revolt, then, the the of the to who did not to with a ladino that the of the and the the of a in ethnic In the of the ladino the had a ethnic that the of the were of their a in in the and of his the indigenous He his participated the of of in El He the words by his they have killed these ethnic indigenous were of ethnic when they workers on or in ladino As a ladino and in to his in and in in were and of to in to the In indigenous who with their ladino had with such who on the coffee of and their in the Salvadoran did not between and the of the poor in western El Notwithstanding their that all of the poor were such are we to the of the we have to the of an indigenous and did these ethnic and conflicts in the In some and some times, they a great In particular, in areas and by the to an indigenous poor the became for the forces of repression. In such in areas of the departments of and that the of land relations by the coffee and the of of of indigenous an with we have local did not the legitimacy of elite land the ethnic dimension in the movement is in the that indigenous of the 1932 the the of on his an and had a key in the in 1931, the was had the the of the became the broke the and into the in the the military that the and had the they killed the to a from and over the of and did some In local ladino elites the broke the on the in to up the for their are in two the of the of from and in a that for the of the indigenous in the insurrection to the In by of the of ladino ladino and the ladino As we have the of indigenous contributed to the of with for the of local political the throughout the an that for the more the than of their and their for of The of in the of ethnic in the it also the of and on the who were to that of and for a moment the and that and of its and relations characterized Salvadoran indigenous and to the and was by to El In in This we that in on indigenous and, the of indigenous an extraordinarily to the we the ladino of indigenous the for In El we some of the of indigenous on in the following a relatively and in the of that the ladino population of by indigenous to indigenous for and and in to of were to indigenous and in particular, were Salvadoran and this the of within the and ethnic As in and control over were central to the of indigenous and or so it to the it

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